Nickelback 2009 Tour Dates

Billboard.com is reporting that Nickelback will begin a North American tour Feb. 25 in Nashville in support of its just-released Roadrunner album “Dark Horse.” Tickets go on sale Dec. 5 via LiveNation.com, but Nickelback fan club members get first crack on Friday (Nov. 28).

Seether and Saving Abel will support on the jaunt, which runs through April 23 in Columbia, S.C.

“Dark Horse” is expected to debut tomorrow in the upper reaches of The Billboard 200. First single “Gotta Be Somebody” has sold 570,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Asked recently by Billboard why NIckelback opted to wait to tour until next year, frontman Chad Kroeger said, “We’ve been bitten too many times by going out too early. I’m always adamant about making sure there’s at least a true rock song from the band that’s gone to radio, just to give a more diverse selection of music for people to listen to.

“We’ve been consulting with some people; I’m interested to see someone else’s take on what this band could look like live, and we’ve had some real interesting stuff come back,” he continued. “I think we’re gonna try some stuff that, believe it or not, no one has ever done live before.”